During a large portion of production on the film, Nyong’o’s character was referred to as “Rose,” both on set and in the production offices in order to adhere to a spoiler prevention tactic. It was after a Vanity Fair article, written by Joanna Robinson and featuring photographs by Annie Leibovitz, that we finally learned some real details of Lupita’s character. Details such as the character’s name, Maz Kanata, and her occupation, space pirate. The article also included a few pictures, such as Ms. Nyong’o in a motion capture suit while filming a scene, and a shot of various “galactic riffraff” hanging around in Maz Kanata’s castle. Must be doing pretty well as a pirate to have her own castle.

Maz Kanata is one of the first major alien characters we’ve seen from The Force Awakens that we know is going to be created entirely through computer animation. Unlike the prequel trilogy, J.J. Abrams has made a point to try and use practical makeup, effects, and puppets where applicable to recapture the feeling of the original trilogy of films. From the image above, it seems pretty obvious that Maz would have been quite difficult to pull off through practical means.

What do you think of Maz Kanata’s look? Let us know in the comments below.